013 – Beyond the Headlines

Tonight I’m heading down to London Town to talk to Farmer’s Weekly’s own Jez Fredenburgh ( @overthefarmgate )

Jez tells me about her early years growing up in central France on her parents’s red deer farm, before their move back to the Norfolk countryside.

We discuss the importance of good journalism, and her role as deputy business editor at FW, as well as what the job entails. We talk about the difference between reactive and proactive stories, the time pressures involved in getting things to press, and the various aspects of being in the office, reporting from seminars and conferences, and building relationships with contacts.

I ask about how difficult it is to remain neutral as a publication, whilst also presenting the facts and coming to conclusions without alienating readers, and we also discuss angry reader emails and letters, with a 6 month old hand written letter written in ANGRY CAPITALS with a footprint on it being Jez’s personal favourite.

We discuss what the future holds for print media, and the new skills journalists are having to learn, and the challenge of getting people to read beyond the headline.

Jez also tells us at length about her recent month long trip to China, and what opportunities and difficulties there are for British agriculture in that particular market, as well as what it was like eating CHICKEN’S FEET, PIG’S NOSES, AND RABBIT’S HEADS!!

Jez is one of my favourite Ag journos, and it was an absolute pleasure to talk to her and learn about what her job entails tonight.